Wethersfield Resident Named President Of Hundred Club

January 17, 2014|By CHRISTOPHER HOFFMAN, Special to The Courant, The Hartford Courant

WETHERSFIELD — For Gerri Roberts, police and emergency workers are like family.

Her husband, Ed Brymer, is a former Middletown police chief. His cousin was a New York City Fire Department battalion chief who died on 9/11.

"Law enforcement is kind of in my blood," said Roberts, a retired labor lawyer and Wethersfield councilwoman.

That devotion has led Roberts to take on a new challenge. On Jan. 1, she became president of The Hundred Club of Connecticut, a charitable organization that assists families of police, firefighters and emergency personnel killed in the line of duty.

"I think it's an important organization, and I think they do really good work," said Roberts, the first woman to lead the group. "I'm proud and honored to be president, that the board and the organization have that much trust in me."

The Hundred Club provides families of police and emergency workers killed on the job with generous benefits. They include an immediate $10,000 payment, cash to children at Christmas and on their birthdays, up to four weeks of summer camp for each child and college tuition reimbursements up to $25,000 a year.

The Hundred Club's assistance is indefinite, Roberts said. It commits to help children until they turn 19 and spouses for the rest of their lives. In the event of a leaky roof, a broken water heater or unpaid medical bills, help is available, if needed, she said.

"We have people in their late 80s," Roberts said. "We're in it for the long haul."

The first Hundred Club was founded in Detroit in 1952 when a local businessman took up a collection to assist the family of a police officer killed on the job. Because 100 people donated, the organization was dubbed The Hundred Club. Similar clubs sprang up nationwide.

In July 1967, Hartford grocer Anthony Ustjanauskas decided to found The Hundred Club of Connecticut after reading about the organization in a magazine, according to the group's website. Less than a month later, the club paid its first benefit when Hartford Police Officer Harvey Young was killed by a man he was trying to arrest, the website says.

Since then, the club has provided assistance to 238 families, Roberts said. The most recent was the family of Russell F. Neary, an Easton volunteer firefighter killed during storn Sandy in 2012, she said.

Roberts, who served as first vice president before ascending to the top job, said it's both happy and sad when the organization bestows benefits on a bereaved family.

"It's hard," said Roberts, who has been part of the team that first visits families. "You're doing a good thing, but you're only doing it because they've suffered a great loss. You need a lot of sensitivity and understanding."

Her greatest satisfaction comes from reading thank you letters sent by children, Roberts said.

"They write, 'Every time I hear from you I always think of my dad,'" she said.

The group, which has offices in Glastonbury, is financed mostly through $250 annual dues paid by each of its approximately 2,400 members, Roberts said. The group also holds an annual dinner and golf tournament. Anyone can join, and members come from all walks of life, Roberts said.

"There are all sorts of people," she said. "There are some police chiefs. Some fire departments belong, doctors, lawyers, a variety of people."

Looking ahead to her one-year term, Roberts, a graduate of the University of St. Joseph in West Hartford, said she hopes to get the group better known.

Her other hope: not to have to pay out a new benefit.

For more information, visit the club's website at http://www.hundredclubct.org.